Blind Trust
by Shai PeriHawk
Summary: A view of the happenings from Konoha from one who cannot see. Will eventually contain Yuri. It's been a while since I've written, criticism is MOST welcome.
1. Chapter 1

This is as-yet unbetaed. I welcome any comments, criticism, and suggestions. Feedback or PM, either method works. This rattles around my brain, so updates will be sporadic. It hasn't let me go yet, so I finally decided to start posting it.

Blind Trust

Hinata tried to understand what her eyes were telling her, but all her training told her it was impossible. She reached out a hand to touch Shino's sleeve. "Can you see?" she asked in a strangled whisper.

Shino raised his hand as one of his insects landed on a finger-tip. "Yes, one would think such a thing were impossible, but it is there before us."

Kiba crouched with Ankamaru at his side just a few feet away. "Talk, talk, talk. Could you try to say something with all of your words?"

Kurenai just eyed her students, waiting for them to put their thoughts together.

Hinata spoke up first. "It looks like she is pulling Chakra from the ground," she said hesitantly.

Shino continued seamlessly. "She appears to be converting the life energy of the plants around her into energy compatible to the human body. b

"Who's there?" the woman suddenly called out. "I can see you, what do you want?"

The Leaf ninja exchanged glances. She wasn't even facing them, how could she see them?

The visible chakra energy faded from her hands, and her patient seemed to relax into a true sleep. The woman wilted visibly as she finished, left with only her small remaining store of chakra.

"I would ask that you not harm this man," she requested. "I've worked very hard to save him, but he is still far too weak to offer you a threat."

"Actually," Kurenai stepped out from hiding, "we're here to rescue him."

The woman's shoulders relaxed. "That's good, he definitely needs to go home and rest." She bent to gather up her tools. "I will just be on my way, then."

She stood, and swayed in place. Kiba was by her side in an instant. "Who _are_ you, lady?" he demanded.

"Kiba!" Hinata admonished. "She just saved Genma-senpai's life, doesn't she deserve a bit more courtesy? And..." Hinata hesitated. "Healer-sama, you seem to be very low on chakra, can you even stand?"

The stranger turned to look at the four ninja, a half-smile on her face. Before she could reassure them, there was a collective gasp. She attempted to take a step away from Kiba, fear on her face. Her legs didn't support her and she nearly fell to the ground. Akamaru moved to brace her before she completely lost her balance. "Is ... something wrong?" she asked in a small voice. Her hands moved to pull her sleeves down over her heavily tattooed arms.

"It's those eyes," Kiba moved closer to sniff her, looking for something familiar.

"What is your name?" Kurenai asked gently. "Hyuuga-" she led.

"Rei," she admitted reluctantly.

Kurenai stole a glance at Hinata, who shook her head. "I know of no Hyuuga Rei-"

"Not Hyuuga, just Rei," the woman interupted. "It is what my sensei called me when I could not tell him my name." Her fingers threaded through Akamaru's fur, taking comfort in the large dog's presence. He whimpered and nuzzled her cold, sweaty face.

Kiba could only stare. "Who _are_ you?"

But his words were fading away as Rei's eyes fluttered closed, and she fell the rest of the way to the ground, completely spent.

~*~

It was very strange to wake warm, dry, and without left-over fear burning the back of her throat. Her body felt renewed, better than she had felt for as long as her memory went back.

Rei's fingers curled in the clean, starched sheet pulled up to her chin. That ever-pervasive sense of being in danger didn't burn in her mind. She was all the more suspicious because of it.

She shifted against the sheets, moving her hands into the seal that would activate her vision.

"So you're awake." The deep voice interupted her before her hands could touch. "The Hokage said you were in pretty bad shape when you got here, chakra drained so much you should by all rights be dead." She heard the strange man shift in the chair next to her bed. She felt him lean over her, felt his eyes on her.

"So why aren't you? An even better question, I think, is how is there an unaccounted Byakugan," he leaned back in his chair. "The Hyuuga clan is terribly possessive. I wouldn't have thought it possible if I didn't see it with my own eyes."

She scooted to sit, tucked firmly in the corner of the bed, as far away from this new voice as she could manage. "Who? Where?" she stuttered. Her eyes moved in her head, but she had not yet made the appropriate signs, so she saw only darkness.

"Look at me," the deep voice ordered. Rei turned her face in the direction of the warmth, guessing on the height of his head. Her hands twitched on her sheet, aching to make the signs so she could at least see his chakra, get a better feel of him.

Three calloused fingers touched her chin. She gasped and cringed away, barely registering the sensation.

"So it's true," he murmured. "A blind Hyuuga. The Hogake said so, but some things just have to be seen." She felt him settle back into his chair. "Where are you from?" he asked more directly.

She had to swallow several times before she felt comfortable talking. "No where. Sensei and I just traveled where we were needed." Her voice came out as barely more than a soft croak. She let her hands tremble as she pushed the sheet down to her waist. There had to be a window somewhere behind her.

"Hyuuga Hiashi has questions for you, but it's my turn first," he said, voice calm and casual. He acted as if he had all the time in the world. "Who is your sensei?"

Rei sighed. "I don't know. I only ever knew him as Sensei. Neither of us really used names. Rei is only what I started using when people kept asking." Her hands clenched in the sheet. "I'm just a tool for healing, senpai, nothing more."

"I doubt that," he contradicted. "I am Ibiki. I am in charge of getting information from people for the Leaf Village."

Real fear clenched her chest. She'd met men who gathered information from people. They were responsible for more than one of the scars on her body. Every muscle in her body tensed before she forced them to relax.

She had survived before. She would this time, even if she had to fake her death again. "I've answered your questions to the best of my ability, senpai. What more would you know?"

"What brings you to the Land of Fire?" She heard the smile in his voice this time, as if her attitude amused him.

"I only follow the wars and help the injured. I'm frequently unaware of crossing borders." She shrugged. "Borders have no more meaning than more frequent fighting and death."

The interrogator sighed, she heard the rustle-creak of cloth against leather, as if he slumped in his chair. "Let's try this another way, then. What is your first memory?"

"Sensei's face," she said without pause. "I was cold, terrified, I think near death. He said he pulled me from beneath my mother's body in Rain Country. I only remember that he made me feel better, and I didn't want him to leave. So I followed him from the refugee camp where he tried to drop me. He gave up and let me follow after the second try."

"When did you lose your sight?"

The corners of her mouth twitched. "I don't remember having it. I followed his chakra, even then."

Silence.

"It's time for you to eat. I will return after." There was more creaking and groaning as he stood to leave. Rei tried not to hold her breath as she listened for the sound of his footsteps and the door.

It wasn't until it had closed behind him that she realized what she'd revealed. The healer thunked her head against the wall behind her. The element of surprise was no longer an option.

~*~

One of the boys who'd found her brought food. It was hot and filling, the healer girl thought she just might be dead, how else would her belly be full, her body be warm, and not running for her life all at the same time. Some of her uncertainty must have shown in some subtle way, because Akamaru crawled up onto her bed and draped himself over her legs, much to Kiba's dismay.

"I'm sorry, healer-lady, I don't know what's wrong with him," he apologized for his hound.

Rei could only smile softly, hands buried in the thick white fur. "Please, don't worry. He's more than welcome." For several moments, hands warmed by dog hair, she forgot the pressing need for escape. She let out a deep sigh.

"Nobody here will hurt you, y'know," Kiba said quietly.

Rei started, turned her face toward the boy. "You say that now, but you're just a child. You don't know what your leaders will want or do." She stopped herself before she said any more.

She heard the soft rasp of his hair against his clothes as he shook his head. "It's not like that hear. You're not a danger, you _helped_ Genma. Nobody here will hurt you," he said again, earnesty in his voice.

Rei just turned her head away.

~*~

The alarm over the girl's escape was quiet. Only a small team of jounin and hunter-nin dispatched to try to find her. When they tracked her to Nara land, they sent word to the Hokage.

"Hana-san, summon Nara Shikaku to the edge of the forest. I will meet you there." She stared out the window of the Hokage tower as the hunter-nin dashed off to deliver her message.

If what Team Kurenai had observed about the girl was right, even the hunter-nin would have trouble tracking her once she went to ground. But Tsunade had seen that type of energy before, she knew what to look for.

"Why this team, Hokage-sama?" Shikaku asked, hands deep in his pockets. "I understand Inuzuki'san and myself, but why are you here? Surely there are more important things that on missing foreign girl?"

Tsunade spared a smirk for her favorite former student. "Because even with the dog-nins' strange affection for the girl, I'm not sure you would find her. She has a type of energy... I've only seen it twice before."

Hana eyed her three dogs. "Something you're not telling me?" she asked them suspiciously. The dogs just panted back at her with a deceptively empty canine smile.

It was actually Shikaku who spotted her first, by virtue of many years patrolling and memorizing the nuances of his family's forest. He noticed a tree with a gnarled root that had not been there before. He silently signaled the Hokage.

Tsunade stared at the root for several long minutes before she detected the human chakra hidden beneath the natural chakra. She, in turn, signaled Hana, who sent all three of her ninja dogs over to investigate. They sniffed around for several seconds before one gave a happy yip. After one particularly enthusiastic lick to a mud-encrusted ear, the illusion broke as the girl squealed in surprise and released her hold on the natural chakra. She sat up to three tongues attempting to lick the dirt from her face.

Tsunade approached the girl cautiously, not eager to startle her into another run. But Hana reached out a hand to intercept her. "Let me talk to her," she pleaded almost silently. The village head searched Hana's face with hard eyes, then gave a sharp nod.

Hana crashed through the fall leaves with the grace of a drunk elephant. "Haimaru! What are you into n-" Her planned tirade came to an abrupt halt as she got a look at the face and eyes, still streaked with dirt. "Well, hello," she said, feeling a bit shell-shocked. This wasn't the child Tsunade's manner led her to believe. She probably had a year on Hana herself.

Rei's fingers tightened in on of the brothers' fur. The dog in question whimpered and nuzzled her face reassuringly. "I- I can't be locked in," she whispered fearfully.

Hana plopped down on the ground beside her, hand already in dog fur. "Well-" She paused as a thought struck her. She spoke before it even fully formed. "Come stay with us."

She heard Tsunade's noise of irritation. By some miracle, Rei's shoulders grew more tense, so she must have heard it too. Shikaku just slouched against a tree, looking bored. "You know Tsume is going to throw a fit," he observed dryly.

Hana lifted her lip in an ill-tempered snarl. "I'll handle my mother, thank you. They're my quarters, I can have what guests I want."

Tsunade hmphed. "Fine, if Tsume says it's all right, she doesn't have to come back to the hospital. We'll see if the Hyuugas and Ibiki will do their interviews in the Inuzuka compound as well."

Blind eyes still wide with uncertainty, Rei nodded her head.


	2. Chapter 2

This part came out a bit more reluctantly. Some parts flowed smoothly, others just didn't want to be written. Overall, there are parts I really like, and parts I'm just not happy with. Same as last chapter, feedback quite welcome.

Blind Trust

"Ibiki is coming by today. He wants to talk to you again," Hana stood in her doorway, pulling her Hitai-ate tight. "Haimaru Un offered to stay, if you'd like," she offered tentatively.

Rei settled her yakuta around her shoulders, head tilted thoughtfully. "I think, I think I would like that," she said.

"You're not using that Byakugan too much, are you?" Hana asked, noting the lines of tension around the other woman's eyes. "You know what Hokage-sama and Hyuuga-sama said that would do to you."

"I've been getting around for years, I don't understand why they think they'd know better than me," Rei muttered.

"They've been utilizing and studying all aspects of the Byakugan since before you were alive, baka," Hana scolded. She paused as she turned in the doorway. "Will you be here when I get back?" she asked quietly.

Rei sat in stunned silence. "I- Okay, I'll be here," she said, completely unsure if she was lying.

Hana nodded shortly before she disappeared.

~*~

As the silence stretched on, Rei resisted the urge to reach for chakra. Her chakra channels still felt like open wounds. She hadn't realized just how raw they were until they started to heal. She owed Konohakagure for that much, at least.

She wondered if she would ever be able to return to her wandering life, having known such luxury.

"Do you miss travelling? You seem a little sad." Ibiki asked in the quiet. Rei heard the sound of leather rustling against fabric. "Or maybe you're just bored."

"I'm not used to being so still," Rei admitted reluctantly. "Unless I'm healing, I'm moving." It was safer that way. If she kept moving, enemies would grow tired of the chase.

Here, she almost felt.... safe. Even the concept felt foreign in her brain, so used to running and hiding and getting caught.

Her mind shied away from the last, her whole body tensing in denial.

"Where does your brain wander?" Ibiki asked quietly, almost as if to himself and not her.

Rei tried not to talk with Ibiki around. He seemed more than capable of coaxing her to spill every last secret, without even trying. Perhaps it was just that she had been alone so long, and all he wanted was to listen.

Rei closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, willing to let the silence stretch.

She dind't relize she'd started to doze until the door slammed open. Her Byakugan was active before she fully regained coherence.

Hana strode forward, arm full of agistated canine chakra. Injuries turned the chakra jagged and dark in far too many places on the small body. Rei started forward before she noticed the equally agitated chakra of the man behind Hana.

Rei started forward, but Ibiki's hand on her arm held her back. "Inuzuka-san, Hatake-san, what happened?"

"Guruku," the new man said raggedly. "He took a barrage of shuriken, he-" the man seemed to lose energy and wilt in place.

Rei shook Ibiki's hand from her arm and strode to the Hatake-person. "You are injured, please, let me help," she pleaded.

The white-haired man shook her off like a fly. He attempted to follow Hana back into the surgery, but the veterinarian kicked the door shut in his face. He lifted his fist to pound on the door, Rei moved quickly to grasp his hand before it landed.

"Please, shinobi-sama, it will be harder for her to work with you there," she held his hand between hers, already feeding a thin thread of healing chakra into the injuries there. "I can tell you everything she's doing while I heal you out here?"

The man hesitated a moment. Rei saw his head twitch toward Ibiki, and the tiny nod given by the questioner. "Hatake Kakashi," he said tightly.

Rei's hands moved up Kakashi's arm, seeking and healing each injury along the way. "She's stopped the major bleeding," she said softly, moving up to his chest where three ribs were cracked. "She's clearing out his lungs now, it's kind of ugly with the coughing, but the blood is processing better." Rei closed a blood vessel to prevent a hematoma from growing out of control, leaving behind a bruise that she coaxed his body to reabsorb. She continued to talk, telling him about Hana's healing of his dog as she repaired cracked bones, abrasions, lacerations, and bruises.

She was really quite surprised he was still standing.

When both dog and shinobi were healed, Kakashi looked down at her. "Who _are_ you?"


End file.
